Fog, speed combine to kill 2, injure 100 west of Beaumont

Traffic backs up on the east bound lane of Interstate 10 on Thanksgiving day Nov. 22, 2012 after a multi-vehicle accident in Southeast,Texas. The Texas Department of Public Safety says at least 35 people have been injured in a more than 50-vehicle pileup that forced the closure of Interstate 10. (AP Photo/) MANDATORY CREDIT Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise

Photo By Guiseppe Barranco/MBO

Cars and Trucks are piled on Interstate 10 in Southeast Texas Thursday Nov. 22, 2012. The Texas Department of Public Safety says at least 35 people have been injured in a more than 50-vehicle pileup. (AP Photo/The Beaumont Enterprise, Guiseppe Barranco) Mandatory Credit

Photo By Guiseppe Barranco/MBO

Cars and Trucks are piled on Interstate 10 in Southeast Texas Thursday Nov. 22, 2012. The Texas Department of Public Safety says at least 35 people have been injured in a more than 50-vehicle pileup. (AP Photo/The Beaumont Enterprise, Guiseppe Barranco)

Photo By Guiseppe Barranco/MBO

An emergency worker walks past a pile of cars from the accident on Interstate in Southeast Texas Thursday Nov. 22, 2012. The Texas Department of Public Safety says at least 35 people have been injured in a more than 50-vehicle pileup. (AP Photo/The Beaumont Enterprise, Guiseppe Barranco) MANDATORY CREDIT,

Photo By Guiseppe Barranco/MBO

An family walks from the massive pile-up accident on Interstate 10 in Southeast Texas Thursday Nov. 22, 2012. The Texas Department of Public Safety says at least 35 people have been injured in a more than 50-vehicle pileup. (AP Photo/The Beaumont Enterprise, Guiseppe Barranco)

Photo By Guiseppe Barranco/MBO

Emergency workers carry a victim across the Interstate 10 median after a massive auto accidentin Southeast Texas Thursday Nov. 22, 2012. The Texas Department of Public Safety says at least 35 people have been injured in a more than 50-vehicle pileup. (AP Photo/The Beaumont Enterprise, Guiseppe Barranco) MANDATORY CREDIT,

Photo By Guiseppe Barranco/MBO

An emergency worker walks past a pile of cars from the accident on Interstate in Southeast Texas Thursday Nov. 22, 2012. The Texas Department of Public Safety says at least 35 people have been injured in a more than 50-vehicle pileup. (AP Photo/The Beaumont Enterprise, Guiseppe Barranco)

Photo By Guiseppe Barranco/MBO

Fog at the miles-long wreck scene was so thick that rescuers couldn't comprehend it at first. "I've got cars on top of cars," a deputy said.

Photo By Guiseppe Barranco/MBO

Fog at the miles-long wreck scene was so thick that rescuers couldn't comprehend it at first. "I've got cars on top of cars," a deputy said.

Photo By Guiseppe Barranco/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Fog and speeders were blamed for a series of crashes on I-10 that killed a Pearland couple and involved more than 100 vehicles.

BEAUMONT - Two hours after sunrise on Thanksgiving Day, the dense fog had not lifted on the highway west of Beaumont. The fog, along with speeding drivers, would create a deadly scenario on the heavily traveled Interstate 10, killing a Pearland couple and injuring about 100 others in a massive pileup.

Four separate pileups were reported on both eastbound and westbound lanes around 8:45 a.m. near the Jefferson-Chambers county line, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

"It was just chaos," said Rod Carroll, spokesman for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office. Carroll said 140 vehicles were involved.

Family cars were smashed between tractor-trailers. The big rigs were crumpled as well. Wreckage was strewn for miles as authorities rushed to pull survivors from the wreckage.

Carroll told The Associated Press the fog was so thick that deputies didn't immediately realize they were dealing with multiple accidents. "I've got cars on top of cars."

DPS identified the dead as Vincent Leggio, 64, and his wife, Debra, 60. They were killed after their 2007 Chevrolet SUV was struck by an 18-wheeler on eastbound lanes.

Between 80 and 90 injured people, including about a dozen in critical or serious condition, were taken by bus or ambulance to hospitals in Beaumont, Port Arthur, Winnie and Houston.

Flashers didn't help

Stephanie Davis, a DPS spokeswoman, said that low visibility due to fog caused the fatal wreck and pileups. Carroll said that drivers probably were speeding, as well.

In February, the Texas Department of Transportation upped the speed limit to 75 mph along the 19 miles of I-10 from the Chambers-Jefferson county lines to U.S. 69 South in Beaumont.

Whatever the posted speed, said Carroll, "you've got to drive to what the conditions are."

Augie Farfalla, a Sugar Land resident whose white Volkswagen was involved in a westbound pileup, said at one point during the morning fog he could barely see just a few feet ahead of his car.

"It was so dense," said the 69-year-old, who was on his way back from the casinos in Lake Charles, La. "We put flashers on so people could see us."

The heavy fog started around midnight Wednesday, according to meteorologist Phil Kuhn at the National Weather Service office in League City. Officials suspected visibility was at one-eighth of a mile. While light fog is common this time of the year for the Beaumont area, Kuhn said Thursday's was uncommonly thick.

"The caliber of fog we had today was severe," he said. The conditions for fog were ripe, he said, with heavy saturation in the air and no wind.

The same foggy conditions are expected for Galveston on Friday, he added.

The wrecks delayed holiday travelers for hours. Both sides of the interstate were closed until noon. The westbound lanes reopened at noon and eastbound lanes, which had the majority of the pileups, at 5 p.m.

One of the eastbound pileups turned even worse when a FedEx truck plowed into what would have only been a few-car fender bender, said Houston resident Kalil Ackal.

"The 18-wheelers, because they couldn't stop, just jammed each other up," said Ackal.

Helping one another

Some of those unharmed in the wreck helped triage others injured. Carroll said people put pressure on cuts, pulled first aid kits from their cars - some even tried to free those trapped in their vehicles.

"Everybody came together as a community," he said.

Agustin Leon, a driver of an 18-wheeler, tried to stop the bleeding of a man whose pickup was mangled in one pileup.

Leon said the injured man was drifting in and out of consciousness.

"At one point, I thought he was going to die," Leon said. "He was really bad."

Farfalla, whose car had to be towed away, hitched a ride from another motorist to make it to Thanksgiving with in-laws in Sugar Land.

Many of those who only lost their cars in the wreck thanked each other for their help and exchanged pats on the back in a display of camaraderie among travelers grateful to be alive after the holiday tragedy, said Farfalla.

Kenneth Ware Jr., Dug Begley and The Associated Press contributed to this report